Artists, Scientists, Designers and Thinkers Unite to Save Arizona's Historic Rex Ranch
Partners Announce Plans to Re-Imagine Property as Cultural Arts Center, Minimum of $734,480 Needed by December 16, 2013. Working Plans Can be Found at www.rexranch.org
Amado, AZ, December 05, 2013 --(PR.com)-- Rex Ranch, a historic 50-acre property developed in the Sonoran desert near Amado, AZ in the 1880s and vacant since 2012, has a chance to be saved and reborn, thanks to the power of the Internet and a new 501c(3) nonprofit organization, Save Rex Ranch. After a year in foreclosure uncertainty, Save Rex Ranch has formed with the goal of raising money online and thru donors to purchase the property and repurpose it as a world-class cultural arts institution offering residencies, workshops and public programs.
“The stakes are high but our team is passionate about rescuing this special place, preserving it and recreating it to remain a legendary part of the area for generations to come, said Joseph Beyer, who is Volunteer Director of the project. “It will be challenging work, but we believe a great crowd funding campaign can achieve this goal.” Working plans can be found at www.rexranch.org.
Beyer has many personal ties to Arizona and currently works for the acclaimed Sundance Institute, founded by Robert Redford in 1981. “We’re definitely using the Sundance and Walker Arts Center models as some of the biggest inspirations for our ideas and how this could evolve if successful,” he added.
The campaign is now live and accepting donations on Rally.org - a leading crowd funding site which has committed to promoting and advising the funding campaign as it develops. “We’re contagiously excited to partner on this incredible project,” added Rally.org’s co-founder, Tom Serres. “Our mission is to empower groups like Save Rex Ranch to harness the power of collective action to ensure unique chances like this don’t fade away without a fight.”
Campaign organizers are working closely and collaboratively with the property owner to complete a sale by the end of the year. The approach of preservation and reinvention is classified in the world of architecture and urban development as “adaptive reuse”. Houston Dude-Rancher, Rex Hamaker expanded the property into a dude ranch in 1938 and famed Tucson architect Josias Joesler designed one of the signature buildings.
“This is definitely a new and unorthodox approach in real estate to use social funding to try and save a property like this,” stated Save Rex Ranch board of directors founding member and Tucson real estate agent, Calvin J. Case who is representing the organization in the sale. “I’m optimistic this bold approach can succeed and create a model for other communities to follow in the future.”
Save Rex Ranch will be managed entirely through grassroots efforts, including a volunteer board of directors and creative advisory board, which includes regional and international artists, designers and thought leaders. The organization has a limited and exclusive window of opportunity to raise the minimum $735,000 needed to secure the property. The pre-negotiated sales contract gives the non-profit until December 16 to bring in the needed funding. Save Rex Ranch hopes for an additional $227,500 to kick-start the organization, steward the ranch and restore its buildings.
“Rex Ranch is poised to become an international cultural mecca for creative and groundbreaking ideas. Our relationship to the nearby Indigenous lands and Mexican border are such an important and additive part of this idea,” said Susannah Castro, President of the Save Rex Ranch Board of Directors. Castro is a Southern Arizona local and has worked for years in the local nonprofit administration of arts and cultural programs such as the Santa Cruz Community Foundation and the Tubac Center of the Arts.
Comments, ideas and questions from the public are welcomed and can be sent to heyrexranch@gmail.com. For press inquiries please contact, Jessie Cohen: jessie@jessieiscohen.com. To donate please visit www.rally.org/saverexranch.
About Save Rex Ranch, LLC
Join Save Rex Ranch on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and Tumblr. Our future residencies will provide dedicated time and space for project development of all types, and our grounds will host all disciplines of creative individuals. Their work will give back to the people of Arizona by engaging them through classes, screenings, galleries and labs at the Ranch. The Rex Ranch program will provide room and board, workspaces and opportunities to share ideas and collaborate with others.
About Rally.org
Rally.org is an online fundraising platform that's designed to empower people to raise money and build communities through social storytelling. To date, Rally.org has enabled tens-of-thousands of individuals and organizations to share and broadcast their passions, leverage social networks and mobilize crowds to change their worlds.
About Calvin Case Real Estate
Calvin Case Real Estate, Investment & Consulting is a broad-based real estate company with more than 25 years of experience in Tucson, specializing in marketing and selling properties, buyer representation, real estate investment strategies for long-term and short-term returns and real estate consulting and referrals.
“The stakes are high but our team is passionate about rescuing this special place, preserving it and recreating it to remain a legendary part of the area for generations to come, said Joseph Beyer, who is Volunteer Director of the project. “It will be challenging work, but we believe a great crowd funding campaign can achieve this goal.” Working plans can be found at www.rexranch.org.
Beyer has many personal ties to Arizona and currently works for the acclaimed Sundance Institute, founded by Robert Redford in 1981. “We’re definitely using the Sundance and Walker Arts Center models as some of the biggest inspirations for our ideas and how this could evolve if successful,” he added.
The campaign is now live and accepting donations on Rally.org - a leading crowd funding site which has committed to promoting and advising the funding campaign as it develops. “We’re contagiously excited to partner on this incredible project,” added Rally.org’s co-founder, Tom Serres. “Our mission is to empower groups like Save Rex Ranch to harness the power of collective action to ensure unique chances like this don’t fade away without a fight.”
Campaign organizers are working closely and collaboratively with the property owner to complete a sale by the end of the year. The approach of preservation and reinvention is classified in the world of architecture and urban development as “adaptive reuse”. Houston Dude-Rancher, Rex Hamaker expanded the property into a dude ranch in 1938 and famed Tucson architect Josias Joesler designed one of the signature buildings.
“This is definitely a new and unorthodox approach in real estate to use social funding to try and save a property like this,” stated Save Rex Ranch board of directors founding member and Tucson real estate agent, Calvin J. Case who is representing the organization in the sale. “I’m optimistic this bold approach can succeed and create a model for other communities to follow in the future.”
Save Rex Ranch will be managed entirely through grassroots efforts, including a volunteer board of directors and creative advisory board, which includes regional and international artists, designers and thought leaders. The organization has a limited and exclusive window of opportunity to raise the minimum $735,000 needed to secure the property. The pre-negotiated sales contract gives the non-profit until December 16 to bring in the needed funding. Save Rex Ranch hopes for an additional $227,500 to kick-start the organization, steward the ranch and restore its buildings.
“Rex Ranch is poised to become an international cultural mecca for creative and groundbreaking ideas. Our relationship to the nearby Indigenous lands and Mexican border are such an important and additive part of this idea,” said Susannah Castro, President of the Save Rex Ranch Board of Directors. Castro is a Southern Arizona local and has worked for years in the local nonprofit administration of arts and cultural programs such as the Santa Cruz Community Foundation and the Tubac Center of the Arts.
Comments, ideas and questions from the public are welcomed and can be sent to heyrexranch@gmail.com. For press inquiries please contact, Jessie Cohen: jessie@jessieiscohen.com. To donate please visit www.rally.org/saverexranch.
About Save Rex Ranch, LLC
Join Save Rex Ranch on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and Tumblr. Our future residencies will provide dedicated time and space for project development of all types, and our grounds will host all disciplines of creative individuals. Their work will give back to the people of Arizona by engaging them through classes, screenings, galleries and labs at the Ranch. The Rex Ranch program will provide room and board, workspaces and opportunities to share ideas and collaborate with others.
About Rally.org
Rally.org is an online fundraising platform that's designed to empower people to raise money and build communities through social storytelling. To date, Rally.org has enabled tens-of-thousands of individuals and organizations to share and broadcast their passions, leverage social networks and mobilize crowds to change their worlds.
About Calvin Case Real Estate
Calvin Case Real Estate, Investment & Consulting is a broad-based real estate company with more than 25 years of experience in Tucson, specializing in marketing and selling properties, buyer representation, real estate investment strategies for long-term and short-term returns and real estate consulting and referrals.
Contact
Save Rex Ranch
Jane Derryberry
520 477 8309
www.rexranch.org
Jane Derryberry
520 477 8309
www.rexranch.org
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